Forest of Angels

A heavenly landscape for this day of angels...Charles Voysey's "Angelic Forest", c. 1927. 

Merry Christmas to all!

Archives of American Gardens at Flickr

Impossibly lovely images from the Archives of American Gardens.  A small selection of their 8000 images, including these historic glass lantern slides from the 1920s and 1930s, is now online at flickr.  The collection also forms the basis of  the book The Golden Age of American Gardens: Proud Owners * Private Estates 1890-1940 by Mac Griswold and Eleanor Weller. 

The second image is of Arcady, formerly in Santa Barbara but now lost to garden history, and my namesake.

The WaterLandscape of Rouen in 1525

Most of us (most of us reading this blog, anyway) live in a time and place where the flow of clean water on demand--for washing, drinking, sewage--is taken for granted.  It's hard to imagine access to water being limited to stale cisterns and brackish wells (with no provision for sewage at all), but it explains why the first flow of acqueductal water into a sixteenth century city was greeted with processions of dignitaries, banners, blessings, and prayers of thanksgiving.  And why, in 1525, Jacques Le Lieur felt compelled to record the entire course of that water through the city of Rouen in a seventeen foot long panoramic watercolor.

It ran past cathedrals and gardens, through mills and fountains, and Le Lieur drafted them all, creating a compelling record not just of the watercourse but of the city surrounding it, including its landscape, in his Livre des Fontaines, images of most of which are online at the library of Rouen. 

Le Lieur's 'book' is the only record of its kind from the period, in France or elsewhere, and is still studied as an early example of urban planning and public hydraulics.  You can buy a copy of Livre des Fontaines (in French) here.

For the Garden Historian who has Almost Everything

And if like me your favorite garden historian doesn't have quite everything (but is rich, rich in friends!), then perhaps something south in price from the lovely Porter telescope is appropriate. (Disclaimer:  I have no connection to any of these purveyors, so nothing to gain)

Sundial made from recycled cups from the UK's Save-a-Cup scheme, at the gardenboutique (garden clock also available)

Handcrafted modernist birdhouses by the Austrian firm raumhochrosen, representing twentieth century buildings in their home state of Vorarlberg

Garden spheres from Los Angeles nursery Pot-ted

 

c. 1890 French terracotta edging tiles from thethompsonstudio

1820s oak garden gate, just £140 at salvo uk

Beautiful copper trowel (personalizable!) at implementations (also uk, but shippable)

silver spoon garden markers by buttermilkhollow at etsy (or DIY!)

c. 1715Vitruvius Britannicus garden plans from leggeprints.  This is Belton, Lincolnshire, listed at $400.


And don't forget to include a membership in the Garden History Society or the Folly Fellowship or a subscription to Historic Gardens Review...

For the Garden Historian who has everything...

...the Porter Garden Telescope.  Russell Porter was an artist, engineer, and amateur astronomer/telescope maker, and in the 1920s in Springfield, Vermont he made some number (at least 53, according to the highest serial number found, but the exact count is unknown) of what must surely be the most beautiful telescope ever manufactured, designed specifically for the garden.  Only 14 are known to survive, one in the Smithsonian museum.

Porter combined all he knew of art and science in an art nouveau style masterpiece made like an unfurling flower with a mirror at its heart.  The bronze housing was designed to remain outside, mounted on a plinth like a traditional garden sundial (if oriented correctly it could in fact operate as one) and the optical components were removable, to be used for viewing biplanes and other heavenly apparitions if the weather was fair and kept safely inside if not.   

An original Porter sold for $18,000 at auction in 2007.  It was an absolute steal...the reproduction being manufactured by Telescopes of Vermont according to specifications in Porter's original patent,  sells for $59,000. 

[Period images are from  stellafane, the home of Springfield Vermont Astronomy, which owns several of the original Porters.  They are seeking the watercolor (second image above), which was stolen from their collection. Modern photos are from  Edmund optics, who provide the optical components for the reproduction telescope.    Images of one of the original garden telescopes can be seen at a fansite here]